When can DHCD terminate your emergency shelter benefits?

DHCD can terminate your family's EA shelter benefits if:

• a family member engages in criminal activity that threatens the health, safety and security of herself, other family members, other shelter residents or shelter staff,
• your family refuses a shelter placement or transfer or fails to appear at a designated placement without good cause (good cause for this purpose includes lack of transportation, lack of state-licensed child care, and a family crisis, emergency or other compelling situation that required a family member's attention)
• your family abandons shelter "abandonment" means you were absent from shelter for at least 2 nights in a row or repeatedly without permission from authorized shelter staff or DHCD and without good cause),
• your family now has feasible alternative housing,
• your family's gross monthly income goes over the EA income limit, although you can stay for six months to look for housing unless you do not save as much as you were supposed to save during the six- month period or become ineligible for another reason. See What is the EA income limit?,
• a family member quits a job, refuses additional work, or reduces earnings from employment unless you have good cause (good cause for this purpose includes lack of child care, a family crisis or emergency or other extraordinary circumstances), or
• your family rejects an offer of safe, permanent housing without good cause (good cause for this purpose includes, but is not limited to, that the housing would require the parent to leave a job that is part of his or her Rehousing Plan; the housing would interfere with access to critical medical needs of household members, including access to specialty medical providers; the housing would interfere with the special education needs of a child; or the housing is in an area in proximity to a domestic abuser, or in an area the household was forced to leave because of safety concerns directed at any member of the household).

DHCD can also terminate your family's shelter benefits after any two of the following things happen, or if any one of them happens more than once:

• a family member poses a threat or previously posed a threat to the health, safety or security of herself, other family members, other shelter residents, or shelter staff,
• a family member misses a family shelter interview without good cause (good cause for this purpose may be limited to a death in your immediate family, a personal injury or illness, or another sudden and serious emergency as determined by DHCD),
• a family member does not cooperate in developing a Rehousing Plan, which may impose obligations such as work, housing search, debt-reduction, savings, or other requirements intended to improve your ability to get and keep permanent housing,
• a family member does not comply with the Rehousing Plan without good reasons,
• a family member violates a shelter's rules more than three times (even if the shelter would allow you to stay) unless you can show the rule was unreasonable, or
• your family is cited for one violation of DHCD's hotel rules or you are expelled from a hotel or motel. 106 C.M.R. § 309.050(E), (F).

Note

DHCD regulations say that an individual is ineligible for EA shelter if s/he has an outstanding default or arrest warrant and the warrant is not resolved within 30 days of the individual being told of the warrant by DHCD. 106 C.M.R. § 309.020(K). Under the regulation, only the individual is ineligible; but if the individual is the only adult in the household, DHCD will likely terminate shelter for the entire family.

Advocacy Tips

• To avoid a finding that you “abandoned” shelter, ask your DHCD worker to give you written permission to be absent from shelter on a Temporary Emergency Shelter Interruption (TESI) form and get that written approval before you are leave the shelter if at all possible.
• Noncompliance and termination decisions are made by DHCD Central Office in Boston. Before the shelter asks DHCD to issue the notice, it is supposed to give you 24 hours to write up your side of the story for Central Office to consider.
• Consult an advocate and/or file an appeal if your shelter benefits are terminated or DHCD issues a noncompliance notice for any reason you think may be wrong. See What are your emergency assistance notice and appeal rights? on appeals.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may prohibit DHCD from terminating your shelter benefits or citing you for noncompliance if the reason for the termination or noncompliance is related to disability (for example, you violated a rule because of your disability or you left a shelter placement because it did not accommodate your disability). See What if a disability makes it hard for you to meet DHCD rules or use DHCD services? and ask an advocate for more information about the ADA.
• DHCD's regulation that says that an individual is not eligible for shelter if an outstanding warrant is not resolved in 30 days may violate a new statute that says the warrant rule applies only to "non-shelter" EA benefits. M.G.L. c. 23B, § 30(C), as amended by St. 2009, c. 27, § 15. If you receive a termination notice from DHCD for not resolving a warrant in 30 days, consult an advocate.
• DHCD is offering many families short-term housing subsidies to move them from shelter to housing. See Can you get help keeping or moving to housing? If you reject an offer of housing that is affordable only because of a short-term subsidy, DHCD may try to terminate your shelter benefits. Consult an advocate if you are given a termination notice or told you will be terminated for refusing an offer of housing that is affordable only because of a short-term subsidy.
• If you are offered a housing subsidy but have no housing unit with which to use it, you should not have your shelter benefits terminated for having "feasible alternative housing." 106 C.M.R. § 309.050(F)(1)(f). If DHCD terminates your shelter in this situation, file an appeal and contact an advocate.